Abstract
The article examines the historical experiences of Sinti communities in South Tyrol within broader European contexts of border regimes, state classification, and memory politics. It traces how practices of surveillance, forced sedentarisation, and social control were embedded in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later reinforced under interwar nation-states, facilitating fascist repression and integration into the Nazi concentration camp system — with particular reference to the Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Bozen, where Sinti and Roma were detained and deported during the Porrajmos (the genocide of Roma and Sinti) as part of Nazi racial policies. The analysis further highlights post-war marginalisation and the ongoing exclusion of Roma and Sinti from recognition and institutional protection within South Tyrol’s autonomy framework. It argues that integrating Sinti histories into public memory, heritage practices, and educational frameworks is critical to confronting contemporary antigypsyism and fostering more inclusive and just coexistence.